Columnist

Growing a biotech business in the North East 

The North East is a region that gets things done.

We deliver – that’s what we’re good at – and we have great talent too.

But there are still challenges to growing a life sciences or biotech business in the North East. 

Finding investment to grow a business outside the South East is difficult. 

The UK investment market overlooks life sciences at the moment, as it’s often a long-term investment.

But there are fantastic multiples if it goes well. 

I hope, with the Government’s recently-announced Mansion House Reforms, that we see more investment in life sciences. 

These reforms unlock pension funds for investment in unlisted assets, offering the potential for a real boost to the economy and a wide range of UK businesses. 

We are also seeing movement in the way we work with other regulators around the world.

When it comes to oncology, we have accelerated pathways and multiple submission routes, which mean the MHRA is now able to gain market approvals in multiple countries with just one application. 

This means we can open access to many different global markets at once, which is incredibly powerful. 

At the recent European Life Sciences CEO Forum in Zurich, we presented LightOx’s new oral cancer treatment to major investors from around the world and received strong interest, particularly from investors in Asia. 

We need support to showcase the best of the North East’s life sciences businesses, not just on a national scale but globally.

This, in turn, allows us to grow our businesses, and make our drugs and treatments available to people who need them worldwide. 

The North East has been my home for 15 years and it’s where LightOx started out as a spin-out from Durham University.

In that time, I’ve seen the biotech sector grow and I’ve experienced the benefits of the great people and the quality of life that living here brings. 

I hope to see more integration beyond the region, between Newcastle, Manchester, Sheffield and Leeds, for example. 

We need stronger investment throughout the UK’s infrastructure to break away from the hub and spoke model of ‘London – and then everywhere else’, and to encourage more investment in businesses in the North East.  

Dr Sam Whitehouse is chief executive of LightOx, which is developing a portfolio of light-activated cancer treatments and has secured investment from partners in the UK and the Netherlands to progress products to market.  

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